From the barricades, Suzuki, Bando, Sei, and Jo approached the restaurant with guns drawn. Jo pushed on the front door; it opened. No booby trap.
Jo whispered, "On three. One…two…three."
The cops and mercs burst in, covering each other. They found Mrs. Genji sitting in a booth halfway down the length of the dining room, her hands obscured by the table. Jo could see why RAPT snipers couldn't get a shot.
The old woman smiled pleasantly. "Good evening. Party of four?" She focused on Sei. "Ah, Sei. I've waited a long time to meet you. I won't say it's an honor, but for what it's worth, the more I learn about you, I can almost pity you. Almost."
Sei's jaw hardened. "Who are you? And where is Kyohei Tachibana?"
"You mean you still haven't figured it out?" The old woman smiled. "But I'm not disappointed. My granddaughter's moment of triumph will be so much sweeter. By the way, Kyohei is quite taken with her, you know that? And he says he regrets having ever spent time with you."
Sei edged forward.
"Sei!" Jo snapped.
Sei froze. "I'm good, Jo."
Jo held her eyes on Sei for a long moment, then shifted her gaze to Mrs. Genji,. "All right, old woman. Get up nice and slow and keep your hands where we can see them."
"Certainly." She slowly stood up, and they saw she was holding a small metal box in one hand, a red LED glowing on the end of it.
"As you can probably infer," Mrs. Genji explained, sounding as if she was explaining the special of the day, "this is a dead man switch, controlling explosives under this building, and my grip is not as strong as it once was. I suggest you all start running for your lives now."
Jo didn't hesitate. "All units, fall back!" she ordered into her headset. "I say again, fall back! We have an EDP sitting on a bomb." She and the detectives began to back away, but Sei stayed put, gun still trained on Mrs. Genji. "Sei! Come on."
Mrs. Genji grinned. "Yes, Sei. Run. Save yourself while others suffer."
Mrs. Genji started laughing. She kept laughing as Sei backed away and brought up the rear as she, Jo, and the detectives left the restaurant. She was still laughing when she let go of the dead man switch.
Sei had just got to the barricades when the ground shook. She turned just in time to see the Opera House restaurant collapse and disappear into a hole in the ground as smoke surged up. Within minutes she would learn that more explosives had leveled Eriko's cybot hangar and collapse the tunnel linking the two buildings. The good news would be that their combined force had not lost anyone in the destruction.
But at the moment, what got Sei's attention was Kyohei's motor scooter, sitting on the edge of the abyss where the Opera House restaurant had once stood. She watched helplessly as the scooter teetered and fell into the chasm.
All she could do was hope it wasn't an omen.